diary of an urban Indian Jeweller

InkTober is about dedicating the entire month of October to ‘Inking’ (open to interpretation). As with any good challenge, it has no strict rules, other than you set your own pattern and follow it. Thereafter, you hashtag it with #inktober and share your drawing on social media.

Well I’ve always been good at setting a pattern and following it 😉 My pattern usually dictates that I join last and finish all in one shot towards the end. It’s simple.

Given that I’d been itching to get back to my drawing days…aah yes!…from way back when…I wondered if this would help me get back in the game.

As it turned out….it did!

Now, these are not strictly drawings…as one imagines drawings to be….but they used to be tremendous fun as middle school musings.

Middle-bench attendance keenly focused on the last page of the notebook. Medium: the notorious finger-staining Reynolds blue ball point pen.

So I started on Oct 20, and in a bid to make up for lost time, here are my drawings from Day 1- Day 7.

What am I using?

Cello gel pen for under-drawing/outlining, Blue

Faber-Castell Multimark 1513, Black

Luxor Permanent Marker Pen, Fine Tip, Red

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

more to follow. Stay tuned… 😉

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I developed this brooch for the Transmission-Exposition, curated by Sebastien Carre and Florine Menant at Studio 411-Galerie, France. It is in continuation of my ‘He was a quiet man’ series and also documents my love for Delhi and its natural habitat.

Living in a culture that aggressively generates noise and pushes for constant talk-time, silence can allow for those lesser voices to be heard that are constantly under threat and in danger of being wiped out.

In this piece, the mind is mapped by the autumnal colours of an urban forest of Delhi: Sanjay van that is fighting to survive encroachments, illegal construction, deforestation and neglect. It is dotted with beautiful lakes and streams and a plethora of flora and fauna that seem to peacefully co-exist with the city scape of a noisy and urban Delhi.

When all is dark and hush, the lesser heard voice of the sparrow can be heard, chirping, chirruping and whispering in the quiet man’s ear.

The exhibition showcases the works of 53 contemporary jewellery makers from 21 countries and runs from October 17 to December 12, 2015 at Studio 411-Galerie, Montpellier, France.

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The Blog-o-sphere Think Tank topic for July: ‘Where I went this summer’

The top view of the gopuram

Kapaleeshwar TempleMylapore
Chennai
India

I recently travelled to Chennai, to attend the opening of the Contemporary Jewellery show I was participating in. There, I also attended a talk by art historian Chithra Madhavan on ‘The Navrasas in art and sculpture from South India’, organized by Apparao Galleries.

The rasa (mental state) of Karunyam (compassion) was illustrated through the story of rishi Bhringi, carved on the gopuram (a gateway-usually a monumental ornate tower at the entrance of the temple complex) of the Kapaleeshwar temple in Mylapore, Chennai. The top of the gateway traces many other stories of Lord shiva and his consort Goddess Parvati through innumerable sculptures.

A trip to the temple inevitably became my next stop.

Gopuram door with bells

Detail of a building housing a shrine

There are numerous halls and shrines inside the complex, though the two prominent ones of Shiva and Parvati have impressive flagstaffs outside the buildings housing the sanctum sanctorum.

Agamis playing instruments on a pillar in the hall

Agamis playing instruments on a pillar in the hall

The flagmast outside the main shrine

Bottom detail of the flagmast outside the main shrine

Lord Krishna carved on one of the pillars of the main shrine

Can you see sage Bhringi, the 3-legged devotee of Lord Shiva?

The 3-legged Bhringi with Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati on their bull Nandi

According to mythology, Bhringi only wanted to worship Shiva. Shiva’s consort, Parvati, however, took offence at not being worshipped too and sat on her husband’s lap. Bhringi became a snake and slithered between the two.
Shiva, then merged his body with Parvati, taking on the famous ardhanarishwar form. But Bhringi adamantly turned himself into a bee and tried to gnaw his way between the two.
Annoyed, Parvati cursed the sage to loose all parts of his body that came from his mother (In Hindu mythology, bones come from the father and flesh and blood from the mother)
Weakened, Bhringi collapsed on the floor and sure enough, learnt his lesson.
Lord Shiva, then gave Bhringi a third leg to help him stand upright.

Garlands of flowers and lotuses for sale outside the temple

Hungry for more? You can read posts of my friends on the same topic here:

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In 2011, 321 studio jewellers answered to a Flickr challenge to make one ring a week and post a photograph of the finished piece to the community group. The challenge was conceptualized and initiated by Thomasin Durgin. There were no fixed rules. Rings did not need to be made of metal, nor did they need to be tangible objects.

1 year=52 weeks=52 rings.

I’d never taken on such a challenge before and jumped right into it. The results surprised me too, as I pushed the limits of my technical and narrative skills each week, with each piece.

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After graduating from the College of Fine Art (COFA), University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia with a Postgraduate Degree in Design in 2001, I established the Department of Jewelry & Accessory Design within the School of Visual Art & Design at the Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, Pakistan in 2004. This was the first Programme of its kind in Pakistan, which offered an undergraduate degree in Jewelry Design and my focus was to develop curricula and educational materials in addition to training faculty, professionals, craftspeople and students.

2. How would you describe your journey as a contemporary jeweller?

My interest in jewelry and objects grew from my freelance design practice after my undergraduate degree in Visual Communication Design at the National College of Arts, Lahore. I was always fascinated with found objects and collected everything from broken glass fragments to river stones. This gradually led to my work becoming a ‘space’ where precious metals and gemstones overlapped with ordinary ‘invaluable’ materials to make statement pieces.

My designs are journeys into the unexpected: imaginary landscapes (Landscape series) where one may find vivid red coral blooming unexpectedly in a plastic paradise. Or encounter a shimmering pearl lake beside a rocky island of pyrite….Each piece is a fluid attempt to create a thoughtful dialogue of the ‘natural’ and the ‘simulated’.

forest of vines

“And I dream in Red..’ is a narrative collection of brooches, where traces of memories overlap with surreal dreams.

Do come in, my dear..

3. What inspires you?

Nature and all the ‘treasures’ waiting to be discovered in the city of Lahore and beyond!

4.What direction do you see your work taking over the next 5/10 years?

I plan to take out more time to write about everything and anything, as these narratives eventually dictate my work.

5.What are your thoughts about the contemporary jewellery field evolving in South Asia?

The most challenging aspect of working as a contemporary artist-jeweler in this part of the world has been the notion of questioning the very definition of jewelry. The Sub-continent, with its rich history of precious jewels and ornaments dictates the widely accepted ideals of jewelry as body adornment with a distinct inherent ‘value’. Attempts to incorporate ‘non-precious’ materials and technology are resisted and embraced at the same time, thus posing more questions and leading to the exploration of exciting outcomes!

coral island

6.List of publications, projects and exhibitions that you’ve been involved in.

Recipient of Australian Alumni Excellence Award for Education 2014 by the Government of Australia, Presented by the High Commissioner of Australia, Lahore, Pakistan, 2014

Selected for Showcase of Jewelry Design Collection at The Beijing International Jewelry Exhibition 2013 by The Committee of Beijing International Design Week and The Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT), Beijing, China, 2013 (as the first Jewelry Artist from Pakistan)

‘Humnawa’ Skills Training and Product Development for women in Muzaffargarh, (South Punjab) in collaboration with PSDF (Punjab Skills Development Fund), Lahore, Pakistan, 2012 which was nominated for the MacJannet Prize 2013 Honorable Mention Award by Talloires Network, Tufts University.

Show of Jewelry Collection at launch of No Man’s Land Gallery, Delhi, India 2012

Training of students, craftsmen and alumni in the Traditional Art of Vessel making in collaboration with German silversmith, Michael Boy and Anne Marie Schimmel-Haus, Goethe Institute, Lahore, Pakistan, 2011